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Modern EMC Receiver Measurement Concepts (3-20-2018)

The second meeting of 2018 of the Phoenix IEEE EMC Chapter was on Thursday March 20, 2018 at Compliance Testing Labs. The chapter thanks them for providing their conference room and facilities for this event.

The meeting was attended by at more than 30 members/guests with a very cordial social hour commencing at 5:30 pm. Dinner was a wonderful Mexican buffet with drinks of choice and lots of pleasant conversion as old and new members had a chance to catch up on what was new since the last meeting. Guests were joining in the table conversations as well.

The meeting began with some announcements from our chapter chairman, Glen Gassaway. He went over IEEE business including discussion on the benefits of IEEE membership for those who have not yet joined. Also discussed was the upcoming IEEE EMC Symposium to be held in Long Beach, California from July 30 to August 3 of 2018. Symposium brochures were handed out to the members and guests that provide all the information necessary to register. A reminder was also made to the attendees to sign the attendance sheet as this is the best way of keeping up with local contacts and interested guests. Introductions where then made by all of the attendees, a wonderful approach to getting information on work availability/needs.

After Glenn concluded the business end of the meeting he introduced the guest speaker for the evening, Bill Wangard. Bill Wangard is the EMC Receiver, Broadband Amplifier, and EMC Software product manager at Rohde & Schwarz USA.  He took an active role in working with the Tri-Services Working Group to implement FFT based Time Domain Scan within MIL-STD-461G.  Bill has 20+ years of RF and receiver design experience with Motorola and Rohde & Schwarz USA where he authored numerous white papers and patents. Bill’s topic for the evening was EMC Receiver Concepts. A copy of the presentation was provided to the group through Glenn.

[gview file=”http://site.ieee.org/phoenix-emcs/files/2018/04/EMC-Receiver-Concepts_2018.pptx-3-20-2018.pdf”]The topics discussed where

  1. What Does Compliance Mean
    1. CISPR 16-1-1, providing specifications for measurement apparatus
    2. CISPR 16-2-1, spectrum analyzers vs. measurement receivers
    3. Measurement times and methods for automated measurements
  2. Spectrum/Signal Analyzer Architecture
    1. Purpose/Application
    2. Architecture
  3. The Value Of Preselection
  4. Time Domain Scans
    1. Ability to Capture Intermittent Signals
    2. Speed
    3. Measurement Time (Dwell Time) / PRI (Pulse Repetition Rate)
  5. AGC: Automatic Gain (of Level) Control
  6. User Interface
  7. Real-time Spectrum Analysis

This presentation was very well received and provided an in-depth look at how to approach EMI measurements based on the equipment type and to how to ensure that the measurements are valid and meaningful. The discussion on time domain measurements was most appreciated and needed.

As always, a big thank you to Glen and the rest of the chapter staff for meeting well received by all attendance.